GREATER THAN JOHN

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright Š 973, 1978, 1984 International Bible
Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

The Lord Jesus declared that John the
Baptist was the equal of any human being. This would include Moses and the
Prophets. Yet, Jesus maintained, the least member of the Kingdom of Heaven is
greater than John. What an extraordinary statement! Is the least Christian
greater than Moses and the Prophets, or is there a deeper meaning here?

GREATER THAN JOHN

I tell you the truth: Among those born of
women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11)

The Lord said John was more than a prophet.
He claimed John was Elijah. The angel proclaimed to Zechariah that his son,
John, would go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah.

Jesus remarked that no person born of woman
was greater than John the Baptist. Yet the person who is least in the Kingdom
of Heaven is greater than John, the Lord stated.

At first glance it seems impossible that
the least individual in the Kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist.
Yet we know Christ spoke only the truth. So we must give this matter some
thought.

To answer the question of how it could be
that the least member of the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than any person born
of woman, we have to understand what it means to be a member of the Kingdom.
We understand what it means to be born of woman, but do we understand what it
means to be in the Kingdom of Heaven, or least in the Kingdom of Heaven?

What is the Kingdom of Heaven, of God (for
they are the same kingdom, in spite of some current teaching to the contrary)?
The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom that has come to us from Heaven. It is as
simple as this. The same parables found in Matthew that describe the Kingdom
of Heaven are found also in Mark and Luke. In Matthew and Luke they are termed
parables of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the
saints governing Gods creatures.

To become a member of the Kingdom of God we
have to be born again. This means Christ has to be born in us. There has to be
a new creation in which the old things have passed away and all has become
new; and all is of God.

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now
all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ,
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, (II Corinthians 5:17,18NASB)

Think about this for a moment. The old
things of our personality have passed away. New things have come, things that
are from God.

If Christ has been born in us, and then
formed in us until all the old aspects of our first, human personality have
been removed, and in their place have come all new things from God, then we no
longer are our original personality. We are different. Our first humanity has
been replaced with a new humanity that is Divine in origin.

From the expression "least in the kingdom
of heaven" we assume there are various ranks in the Kingdom. Every member has
undergone the transition from the merely human to the Divinely human, but some
are of higher rank than others.

Now let us think about Moses and the
Prophets, or of John the Baptist. All of them were profoundly anointed with
the Holy Spirit. Yet each of them maintained his original human
personalitythat which is born of women. Isnt that so?

Yet here comes someone who at one time was
born of a woman, but now has been changed such that his original human
personality has passed away and now he is a Divinely human person. Certainly
the Apostle Paul was a Divinely human person. "I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live. Yet it is not I who am living but Christ who is living in
me." It appears Pauls original personality has been crucified. The old has
passed away. What is living now is Christthat is, the Virtue of Christ has
permeated Pauls soul and spirit such that it can be maintained the old has
passed away, the new has come, and the new is of God.

Now compare such an individual with Elijah.
Elijah had one of the greatest anointings of the Holy Spirit of the people we
read about in the Bible. Yet Elijah was a human being. The Apostle Paul was
more than just a human being, we might say. His original personality was dead
on the cross with Christ. His new personality was ordered of God. Therefore
Paul (although certainly not least in the Kingdom) was greater than any of the
men of God of the Old Testament.

And this is true of each member of the
Kingdom of God.

This brings up a point. Can we say that
every person who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than John
the Baptist? Most decidedly not!

But numerous Christian believers claim to
be new creations in Christ.

The truth is, many who profess faith in
Christ have barely started on the path to becoming a new creation in Jesus
Christ. They believe Christ is the Son of God. They have placed their faith in
the blood of atonement for the forgiveness of their sins. They have received a
portion of the Life of the Spirit. They have had the Seed of Christ planted in
their heart. And now they are waiting to go to Heaven.

They have never denied themselves. They
have never taken up their cross and followed Christ.

God, through the atoning blood, has given
them the authority to walk forward on the road to becoming a new creation in
Christ. God has given them of His Holy Spirit so they might have the wisdom
and power necessary to walk forward on the road to becoming a new creation in
Christ.

Yet, it could not be said of them that the
old has passed away and all has become new. Therefore they do not qualify as
being greater than Moses and the Prophets.

Because of incorrect teaching, or for
whatever other reason, many have stopped at the starting point of the
Christian salvation.

In order to move forward on the path that
leads into the fullness of the Kingdom of God we have to die. In order to
become a new creation in Jesus Christ, the old creation has to die.

Now, how do we go about dying? Remember, it
is not our physical body that dies, it is our inner person, our true person.
Our body is no more than a house, a visible form that covers our true, eternal
spiritual personality.

How do we attain to the death we are
seeking, in which the old passes away and all becomes new and of God?

First, let us realize the most
distinguishing feature of our true spiritual personality is our will. It is
our will that identifies our true personality as a unique individual. If we
are to submit our true personality to death, the death must be accomplished by
our will.

Our true personality must learn seven words
and repeat them frequently: "Not my will but Yours be done." These seven words
are the key to our becoming a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are three major areas of sin in our
original personality. These are first, our willingness to find our survival
and security in the world spirit; second, the appetites and passions that
inhabit our flesh; and third, our personal ambition and self-centeredness.
These three are spiritual darkness in our original personality. God wants to
replace them with spiritual lightthe very Light of Gods Life.

Our will must motivate us to deal successfully with each
of these three areas, if the old is to pass away and the new is to take its
place.

Our will chooses to look to God for our
daily needs, not to the Antichrist world spirit. We do not make money our god,
which often is done in the United States. We look to God instead of to the
military establishments and other resources of our state government to keep us
from harm. This is a choice we must make; and if we pray fervently to God He
will help us choose to look to Him instead of to the world for our survival
and security. This is the first step toward becoming a new creationone who is
greater than any of the Prophets.

Our will chooses to not yield to the
appetites and passions of our sinful nature. We absolutely refuse to give in
to the whimperings of our flesh. We have to take a firm hand with the passions
of our physical body. As Paul taught us, we must beat our body down and keep
it under control, or we will be disqualified for membership in the Kingdom of
God.

Make no mistake: your physical body is one
of your worst enemies. It will kill your spiritual life if you allow it to. It
is only a visible covering for your true person. Never let your body forget
that. Rule it with an iron hand. It is certain no one will govern the nations
with Jesus Christ if he is not able to bring his own body under subjection to
his will.

Do you know what it means to lose your
soul? It means to permit your body instead of your true person to make your
decisions. Once your body gains the upper hand, you are dwelling in a state of
corruption. This will be revealed in the Day of Resurrection unless through
prayer you are able to take back the rulership over your personality.

So by our will we bring to the cross our
trust in the world system.

By our will we bring to the cross the lusts
and appetites of our flesh.

You know, as the Apostle Paul pointed out,
we must put off the old man and put on the new man. We do this by a change in
the attitude of our mind.

You were taught, with regard to your former
way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; To be made new in the attitude of your minds; And to put on
the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
(Ephesians 4:22-24)

We have dealt with our trust in the
Antichrist world spirit. We have dealt with the lusts and passions that dwell
in our flesh.

Now we turn to what is by far the most
difficult area of our original personalitydifficult to dislodge and replace
with the new Divine Life. I am referring now to the self-will that identifies
our true personality. Previously we relied on our will to deal with
worldliness and the lusts of our flesh. Now we are ready to use our will to
choose to replace our will with the will of God.

Since it is obvious our will cannot crucify
itself, we must look to God to accomplish this third and greatest step.

When we are dealing with the world spirit
and with the lusts of our flesh we are addressing attitudes and compulsions
that we recognize to be sinful and undesirable. But to take the next step, and
seek to have our will brought into alignment with Gods will, is to proceed
beyond the battle against that which obviously is sinful and destructive. It
is this third step that brings us to the fullness of fruitfulness and
conquest.

We presently, as I have stated in other
writings, are at the golden Lampstand of the Tabernacle of the Congregation,
that is, if we have come as far as the Pentecostal experience in our Christian
walk. Now we are facing the Altar of Incense. It is at the Altar of Incense
that we cry out, "Not my will but Yours be done." When we repeatedly make this
declaration, the angels of God begin to blow the trumpets of judgment and war.

Then the angel took the censer, filled it
with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of
thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven
angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. (Revelation 8:5,6)

There are two examples in the Old Testament
of the power that issues from Gods Throne when someone is willing to say "Not
my will but Yours be done."

The first is the incredible act of
obedience on the part of Abraham when he chose to obey God in the matter of
the sacrifice of Isaac. Here is an example of a will that is choosing to die
to itself in order that Gods will might be done.

The result was extraordinary fruitfulness
and extraordinary conquest.

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham
from heaven a second time And said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in
the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession
of the cities of their enemies, And through your offspring all nations on
earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)

Now notice carefully: this was not an issue
of worldliness. Worldliness had been dealt with when Abraham was called out of
the civilization of Ur.

This was not an issue of the lusts of the
flesh. The lusts of Abrahams flesh had been dealt with when God said: "Walk
before Me and be perfect."

Rather, the sacrifice of Isaac was an issue
of Abrahams will. Isaac did not represent worldliness. Isaac did not
represent the sinful nature. Isaac represented the will of the true person of
Abraham; not the appetites of his flesh, but his right to live and have a son.

This is what makes the crucifixion of the
will so difficult. It is not a replacing of that which is sinful with that
which is righteous and holy. It is a replacing of our right to be an ordinary
human being, as it were, with Gods desires.

The second example of the crucifixion of
the will occurred in Gethsemane. Here the Lord Jesus was faced with the
possibility of spending eternity in Hell with the demons. This was a much more
severe test than that administered to Abraham. But, of course, the Person
being tested was much stronger than Abraham.

Jesus Christ learned obedience by the
things He suffered, the Bible tells us. The willingness of the Lord Jesus
Christ to relinquish His own right to enjoy the Presence of God resulted in
the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The willingness of one person to obey the
Lord implicitly can change the history of the world.

So we pass the test of worldliness. We pass
the test of bodily lusts. Now we are facing the test of obedience.

As I said, we cannot teach ourselves
obedience. Our will cannot crucify itself. Our will can and must choose to
obey Gods will, even though that obedience means the death of itself in the
process.

We become a member of the Kingdom of God
when the old worldliness has passed away and in its place has come trust in
God for our physical survival. It is the test of bread.

We become a member of the Kingdom of God
when we put to death the actions of our sinful nature and in their place have
come the righteousness and holiness of the Kingdom of God. It is the test of
pleasure and worship.

We become a member of the Kingdom of God
when we do Gods will rather than our own. It is the test of the gable of the
Temple.

Absolute obedience! Stern obedience to the
Father! We learn this through self-denial as God permits Satan to put us in
prison.

We overcome the accuser of the brothers by
loving not our life to the death.

God permits Satan to put us in prison,
although God always retains control of our imprisonmentjust as He retained
control of Jobs imprisonment.

When you are put in prison, a situation
which you dislike, and there is no way out of the prison except by breaking
Gods laws, then you have to stay there and suffer. How long! Until God sees
that your will has been sufficiently converted in terms of the place in the
Kingdom God has for you.

The higher the rank in the Kingdom to which
you have been called, the longer and more difficult your imprisonment will be.

A painful marriage! Sickness! A hated
employment! An area in which you do not want to live! An infirmity of some
sort! Continual pain! Poverty! Slandered by your peers! Humility! Lack of
recognition! No opportunity to marry! A situation you are forced into which
you detest! The deferral of your hopes and desires for many years!

God has His ways. But what are we to do? We
are to pray, pray, pray, pray and ask God for the desires of our heart, in the
meanwhile giving Him thanks for His goodness. Anyone can give God thanks and
praise when everything is fine. It is when we are very low and our hope is
almost gone that our thanks and praise are specially dear to God.

In these kinds of situations we learn
obedience. We come to know God, if we remain faithful.

If Gods hand is on you, and He has called
you to Himself by placing you in painful and distressing circumstances, do not
expect other Christians to understand what is taking place in your life.

Christians are very good at comforting Job.
Believe me, they know more than we do. They offer what they believe to be
excellent advice: "If you had faith you would gain the victory; if you had
brought up your children correctly they would not have gone astray; if you
forgive people your arthritis will disappear; if your are depressed it is
because you are not praising God."

It helps to read the Book of Job and the
Lamentations of Jeremiah. They will sustain you during the trial of your
faith.

The Christian literature in America is
filled with books that tell us how to be a Christian without really trying.
There are a few that have insight; but the remainder seem to be of little use
to the individual whom God has called to Himself.

As a pastor I have noted the various
seminars, books, and tapes that offer management techniques to the person who
wants to build a large congregation. I hope these resources prove to be
helpful for some. But to the individual with whom God is dealing, these are as
so much chaff. It is as though they have put the Ark of God in a new car and
are driving it around town in an advertising campaign.

When God is ready for us to be fruitful and
to exercise conquest over His enemies He will bring us to several points of
decision. We have to choose to obey God no matter how it hurts. You know, it
really is not past enduring when we have a willing and obedient spirit. We
just put our hand in Gods hand and trust Him to lead us through the darkness.

The River Jordan represents death to our
self-will. We have to die in Jordan, as it were, if we are to enter the land
of our inheritance. The Veil of the Tabernacle also represents death to our
self-will.

By death to our self-will I do not mean we
become passive. We keep our will honed to razor-sharpness. We are decisive,
not double-minded when it comes to our choices. But we always defer to the
Lord. No matter what He requires, we always defer to His will.

There have risen mighty men of God in time
pastmen born of women who were heavily anointed with the Spirit of God.

Then came the Lord Jesus Christ who was
born of a woman, but also of the Spirit of God. When He arose from the dead He
was the Firstborn of the Kingdom of God.

Then He ascended to the Father. Now through
the Spirit of God we can partake of His Divinity. Now we also have been born
of a woman and of the Spirit of God. Like Him, we are son of man and son of
God.

Our original personality has been brought
to the cross with Him. Our new personality has come from God, such that all we
are has partaken of the Divine Nature.

Jesus told us some would be able to see
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God. Since the
only manner in which anyone can enter the Kingdom of God is by being born
again, we conclude that the patriarchs and prophets, who were born of women
and then died, and who now are in the Kingdom of God, have received Christ
while living before God in the spirit world. Many of them are probably of high
rank in the Kingdom.

God is doing great things for us today. Let
us pay full attention as God removes the old and places the new in our
personality until we in truth have become a new creation.